Since ancient times, outstanding talents have been diligent.

  This is Fan Zhongyan's final summary of Zhao Xie.

  This isn't because this old man thought he could write poetry, it's probably because of reading these books.

  Alright, you've really helped me out a lot. From now on, no matter what kind of outrageous behavior I have, I'll always have a suitable excuse... Grandpa reads too many books.

  "Your Highness, the prince is still young, and it's not easy for him to bear heavy books. Although diligence is essential for learning, his health should be the top priority."

  "Tomorrow is another day, today is already late, and tomorrow will be a holiday. From now on, there's no need to keep the homework for the prince."

  The queen is quite wronged. When did she force Xi'er to warm up the book? Never, and even when she saw the child warming up the book, she would let the kid go out and play.

  Sun Fu was also wronged, what homework did he leave behind after school? Wang Ye had never delayed, but had been suppressing the progress of the course himself. Otherwise, Wang Ye could have participated in the Tongsheng examination long ago.

  Since Master said so, no one refuted it, and Ziyu nodded in agreement.

  But one thing is clear: there is no divine right, only hard work.

  As clever as King Wu of Yue, still being so diligent, it's no wonder that there are performances at banquets.

  Only Zhao Xi himself understood that he was already in his forties, and if he really followed the pace of a child's education, he might actually return to being one.

  He was forced to relax, but unbeknownst to him, all the children in the capital would suffer tonight.

  The cleverness of King E, still remembers to review books from time to time. You have such talent but are greedy for play, go and review your books quickly!

  ……

  It was still the same time when Zhao Xi woke up.

  In this era lacking in entertainment, apart from reading books, there really isn't anything that interests Zhao Xi.

  All that's left is sleep. So he was forced into the habit of going to bed early and getting up early.

  I was waiting for someone to come and help me get dressed, but no one moved.

  "Zhōngzhèng, it's time to go to school..."

  "Your Majesty, the teachers told us yesterday that we don't have school today."

  Sigh, forgot. Continue sleeping? Or do something else? Maybe read a book instead. It's really boring.

  "Xi'er, stop reading for now, let's take a walk with Tuan'niang after lunch."

  Got it! Just a moment ago, the queen came over, just to stop herself from reading.

  What's going on here?!

  "Sanlang, is there any Cao's wife meat pie at the banquet? Is there any Liu family dim sum? Tiao Niang has tried it and said it was delicious."

  Chirping and chattering, lovely little girl.

  "Too much, Mrs. Cao's meat pie is not delicious."

  "It's delicious, I think Nangzi will like it."

  What a poor child. The palace rarely has snacks, and even if there are any, the imperial kitchen only makes some famous small eats from the market.

  Why don't I try cooking something? Zhao Xi is getting restless and doesn't want to read books, only wants to play, so let's play a new trick.

  "Song Niang, how about San Lang makes something delicious for you?"

  "Sanlang you..."

  The little girl hesitated and looked at Zhao Xi with a suspicious gaze.

  The kitchen of the imperial palace Zhao Xi was here for the first time, it's a pretty big house, from the warehouse to the dining room, everything is arranged in order.

  The eunuchs who served in the imperial kitchen were also considered to be eunuchs, Zhao Xi didn't know them, but Wang Zhongzheng was familiar with them. As soon as he saw Wang Zhongzheng, he knew that the most popular Prince of E had arrived.

  "Your Highness, I am Liu Yi, paying respects to Your Highness."

  He looks ageless and quite fair-skinned, making it easy for Zhao Xi to associate him with eunuchs in later generations' film and television works.

  His face was full of flattery, and the flesh on his face was all piled up. Although Zhao Xi did not like this kind of person, he also understood.

  Being a eunuch in the palace is already a good job, not only can you enter and exit the inner palace freely, but also have a lot of power to make purchases, let alone being trusted by His Majesty and having the opportunity to get close to him.

  No sooner had he spoken than the heir apparent arrived.

  "Is it Liu Yi?"

  "It is the king, I am here."

  "Is there icing? Egg tarts and old face?"

  "Everything is available, Your Majesty."

  "Is the new stove built in the imperial kitchen itself or is it specially constructed?"

  Zhao Xi wanted to make cakes or bread. When he was young, there was a local bakery in his town that baked cakes and bread in an earth oven.

  The style of the stove fire is still remembered clearly. I think that even if it were done by craftsmen today, making such an earthen stove shouldn't be a problem.

  "Tell His Majesty, our imperial kitchen's stove fire is not something ordinary people can handle, our imperial kitchen has its own arrangements."

  This guy is really capable of reminding people that he's an insider.

  "Bring the cooking utensils, I need to make a stove fire. Also, prepare some old noodles, flour, eggs, and white sugar, I will use them later. By the way, if there is beef milk, also prepare some."

  The imperial kitchen didn't know what the king wanted to use cow's milk for, as in the past the palace had always purchased cheese and never prepared cow's milk. The king needed it, so they had to have it.

  Zhao Xi couldn't draw any design diagrams, so he could only scribble and sketch out a rough idea. Fortunately, he knew about cross-sectional views, and based on his own memories, he managed to draw a simple earth oven.

  The craftsmen of this era really surprised Zhao Xi.

  Even Zhao Xi couldn't understand his own drawings, but after the imperial kitchen staff took a look, they got to work.

  Zhao Xi was worried that this group of fools had been busy for nothing, but in less than half a time, a delicate earth oven was completed, which was much better than what Zhao Xi had imagined.

  The distance between the earth fire pit and the roasting platform is exactly at the outermost middle position of the earth fire, while the roasting platform is built with stone slabs, smooth and flat, with a slight inclination, making it quite easy to operate in practice.

  Zhao Xi looked at the mouth of the roasting platform and saw that the entire roasting space was just right, seemingly consistent with the proportions he had seen before. If Zhao Xi hadn't asked, this era didn't have this thing, he would have suspected that the creator had done this before.

  Even the smoke vent and air inlet that Zhao Xi didn't think of were done.

  "Is there a stone carbon inside the palace?"

  "Returning to the king, there is."

  "Alright, you light the fire and first dry the stove... Follow me..."

  Zhao Xi somewhat understood why emperors loved having sycophantic officials. This Liu Yi had a flattering face, which she didn't like, but he handled matters in a way that made people feel at ease.

  Cakes will be baked and eaten by every household in the future, nothing more than flour, eggs, yeast, sugar and milk.

  Different formulas and production processes can be transformed into various types of pastries such as bread, Danish pastry, etc.

  Anyway, there is a group of people around him, letting him order them around. Zhao Xi simply followed the most exquisite method, beating eggs, mixing flour, stirring white sugar...

  A group of people were being directed by a three-year-old kid, having a blast.

  "Your Ladyship, the King is in the imperial kitchen, saying he wants to make some pastries for Tiao Niang to eat."

  "Want some dessert?"

  The queen was surprised and for a moment thought of stopping him... As the saying goes, "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen", how could this king... Never mind, just treat it as children's play, no one will say anything.

  Zhao Xi forgot to make a model box, fortunately there was a model for making dim sum in the palace, so he let the craftsmen work according to their own methods while baking at the same time.

  It's getting late, can't delay anymore.

  Zhao Xi was unsure of the time it took for the oven to bake a cake, but the imperial kitchen was not short of such talent.

  Not yet out of the oven, the whole stove edge has already smelled that fragrance...

  "Sanlang... it's really delicious, even better than Cao Babao's meat pie."

  The Empress Dowager was so anxious that she forgot about her burnt mouth. She had the palace maid bring over a freshly baked cake and fed it to him bit by bit.

  She didn't scald herself, but the little girl kept sucking on her own fingers.